Overview

Our Mission

Action-Based Approach to Ending Discrimination and Violence

For a Change, Defend not only focuses on the awareness of this issue as a whole, but taking active, action-based steps to truly end Gender Discrimination against women. One of the ways through Self-Defense Classes. We teach martial arts based self-defense in schools in the South Bays and in India to women and young girls.

Along with Self-Defense, this organization emphasizes the mental empowerment that is gained by physical strength. This mental strength has the ability to empower generations of women to a life free of violence and more importantly, a life of gender equality everywhere.

Elimination of Child/Teen Gender Based Violence

Due to the tremendous amount of sexual violence cases regarding the exploitation of young girls and teenagers, For a Change, Defend prioritizes this issue greatly. The U.S. Department of Health and Human Services’ Children’s Bureau report Child Maltreatment 2010 found that 9.2% of victimized children were sexually assaulted and 1 of 5 girls in America are victims of attempt or actual assault.

Prolonged abuse or even one-time attempted assaults can cause teens or young children to develop very low self-esteem. This causes a chronic fear in workplace, home, school, university etc.

We must take active steps to prevent teen dating violence and domestic abuse.

Local and Global Women Empowerment

Gender equality and women empowerment have been the priority of the UN and is one of eight of the Millennium Development Goals. However, our global community is far from reaching gender equality. Exploitation and incessant discrimination is still rampant in the United States among many other countries in the world. Awareness of this issue

For a Change, Defend's main priority is the empowerment of women and girls through both physical strength and mental. Awareness of this issue is not enough to empower women. Communities, movements, and true action is needed for the empowerment of our future girls.